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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25302781">The Pact Commander and the Bucket of the Boiling Sea</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/webbedfeet/pseuds/webbedfeet'>webbedfeet</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Character Study, Gen, they/them commander</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 12:09:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,549</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25302781</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/webbedfeet/pseuds/webbedfeet</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>At the base of the volcano in Draconis Mons floats a bucket.</p>
<p>The Pact Commander spies the bucket.</p>
<p>The Pact Commander decides to jump into it, boiling sea and all.</p>
<p>A vignette on why the Commander might choose to do such a thing, based on their implied mindset in the latter half of LS3. <br/>Note : please don't read if you're suicidal.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Pact Commander and the Bucket of the Boiling Sea</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerdanel/gifts">Nerdanel</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There's a bucket in the boiling sea.</p>
<p>The (former, resigned, retired) Pact Commander looks down at it contemplatively as they wipe their weapon clean of the bits and pieces from the latest death-touched destroyer to launch itself at them screaming. It's not a location one expects to find a bucket. In fact, they aren't even entirely sure how a bucket could survive the extreme conditions down there. Surely the sulfur should've disintegrated the wood, at some point.</p>
<p>But it remains that there's a bucket in the boiling sea.</p>
<p>Steam rises from below and obscures their vision of the bucket. Another death-touched destroyer launches itself at them. Yet another scrap of silk spent to wipe their weapon clean. The Commander grimaces. For a barely-awakened dragon, it seems like Primordus is something on the overly enthusiastic side. They're going to run out of silk scraps at this point, never mind the nearly endless stream of pamphlets from the Black Lion Trading Company practically begging them to buy some extra material storage space instead of cramming the bank vaults full of silk. What does the Black Lion Trading Company know about adventuring, anyway?</p>
<p>They turn their attention back to the bucket. It's fairly close to the base of this cliff. One could conceivably launch oneself from here and land in it, with a decent enough aim. The Commander briefly wonders what that would be like.</p>
<p>Would the boiling sea kill them, or would they live?</p>
<p>What laws of thermal convection they manage to remember from class suggest that they would, indeed, die. But considering that the wood somehow manages to survive the boiling sea for however long the bucket's been there, there's a decent, non-zero chance that the bucket is enchanted in some way, which could mean that they would live. It's something of a fascinating prospect. They wonder how plausible it is.</p>
<p>Taimi, of course, would have a better idea, but they somehow have a nagging feeling that Taimi would just yell at them and lock them into a room somewhere in Rata Novus if they ask. She's always had little patience for people with a flimsy grasp of basic alchemagical principles, and they're quite sure that she's had enough to be upset about lately.</p>
<p>After dispatching the third death-touched destroyer who apparently wished to be a little closer to Zhaitan's magic, they look back down at the bucket again. It wouldn't be all that hard to jump down there from this height and there's not all that much obscuring steam. Practically impossible to mis-aim. It's far less of a leap than an average dive from the lighthouse in Lion's Arch. Safe. If they're going to die, it would be from thermal convection and not because they accidentally landed in the sea.</p>
<p>Adventuring has always been a little bit about self-imposed challenge.</p>
<p>Thirty death-touched destroyers and a dozen suicidal bandits later, the Pact Commander finds themselves at the top of the mountain, the searing wind from the caldera and the nearby lava streams blowing past their hair. Here on the cliff edge on the highest point of the volcano that they could find, they can't see the bucket anymore. It probably is just about as big as a speck of dust, and there's an entire atmospheric layer's worth of steam billowing above it.</p>
<p>If they try jumping down from here, there's a rather high chance that they would miss. The boiling sea is much, much hotter than your average boiling kettle. Which, as far as they know, means falling into it is unlikely to be very pleasant. Death by boiling : the fat under the skin bubbles and ruptures, the skin splits apart and sloughs off, eyes cooking in their sockets. It would be a matter of seconds. Considering how acidic the sea must be, it's also very unlikely that anyone would find their bones.</p>
<p><em>There'll be no one to stop Primordus and Jormag,</em> they think to themselves as they peel off their gloves. <em>Balthazar would have free reign.</em> Boots, now.  <em>Taimi would be upset, I still haven't fixed this like I said I would.</em> A pang of guilt as they remove their armor and unbutton the undershirt.</p>
<p>But if they do fall, it would hardly be the first time they've broken a promise.</p>
<p>Steam swirls at their feet as they stand on the brink, absently bundling their clothes into the waterproof container they always pack them in when they do this. It's not as if they're <em>certainly</em> going to die. They can't do that. It's not one of those things, not like the call that pulled at them from below the wreckages of Maguuma, back then. It's just the risk of it, the challenge, the things that make an adventure. They aren't being irresponsible. Once they're done with this, they'll find their way back up the mountain and deal with this god business. They will be back. Even if some probably wouldn't want them to.</p>
<p>The Commander closes their eyes. They don't think Braham or Canach would even want to come find their bones. If they fall. If they fall.</p>
<p>Their fingers briefly brushes a small, carved piece of stone. Aurene's token. This can't fall into the sea with them. Even if Caithe ends up taking care of her much better than they ever could, even if one day Aurene might forget them entirely----this can't fall into the sea with them.</p>
<p>But they won't fall, will they?</p>
<p>It's not as if they're trying to fall. It's not as if this is anything more than a little harebrained adventure they've cooked up on the fly. It's not as if they want the sea to claim them.</p>
<p>They shake their head a little and bring their spare glider out of the bundle, attaching to it both Aurene's token and their current weapon, wrapped in the most durable pack they have on hand. The branches of their weapon poke out of it almost comically as they let the glider ride the wind to the other side of the cavern. At least both things will likely land on some sort of safe ground. A good precaution. Not that they are absolutely <em>sure</em> they're going to die.</p>
<p>The Commander inhales and takes a step to the brink of the precipice. It almost feels like something is tugging at them from below. Just one little step, just one gust of wind, and it would be easy for them to lose their balance and tumble downwards in an uncontrolled fall.</p>
<p>It's something of a fascinating prospect. Taking another deep breath, the Commander takes one little step and jumps.</p>
<p>The wind whips by their face billowing with smoke, steam and ashes. It feels like they're falling through the layers of hell itself. It feels free. Liberating. The air almost burns with heat around them and they are falling, falling, it's almost as if the descent itself is tinged with sweetness, with finality. As the steam parts below them like clouds, the boiling sea yawns with promise. If falling into it also feels like this, maybe they're not so sure they want to reach the bucket anymore. All the unfinished business. All the things they need to do. All the world that needs to be saved. It will be lost. But for a moment the freedom of it screams in their chest and it almost, almost seems like a small price to pay.</p>
<p>It feels as if their very bones creak in protest and their body cries out in reluctance as the Commander course corrects in the air, edging towards the bucket instead of the sea that wants to welcome them. From here they can see the water in the bucket doesn't boil, indeed, it looks clear, still, unforgiving. It looks like a continuation that never ends. But they spin towards it anyway even as the ashes and the steam pull at them, even as their heart screams at them, because they started this. Because it has to be done.</p>
<p>Even if no one wants them to do any of this, it has to be done.</p>
<p>It has to be done.</p>
<p>They land with a splash and know that it is not the sea, because instead of feeling their skin boiling off of them, it's cold and still. A bit warm compared to water elsewhere, perhaps, but it feels like the ice of the Shiverpeaks after the firey air that they've fallen through.</p>
<p>They made it. They've taken a dive from the caldera of Draconis Mons into a tiny bucket floating in the boiling sea, and they still live.</p>
<p>They still live.</p>
<p>The Commander closes their eyes and sighs.</p>
<p>Well, they've done it. They've made the jump. They've done something that not many people would have done before, if anyone did it at all. They've satisfied their curiousity. They've had a little detour, a little indulgence for their drive towards adventure. That's what this is all about, isn't it? An adventure. From the beginning to end. Everything. From the first step they took out of their hometown. This, too. That's all any of this has ever been about.</p>
<p>"It's an adventure," the Commander says to themselves, their voice hoarse as they cover their face with a hand, blocking out the world. "An adventure. That's all it has ever been."<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Narration :  the Commander is Not Okay.</p>
<p>I've tried to portray the disconnect between what the Commander thinks and talks about and what they actually feel, and I'm not sure I got it all across because they're only vaguely aware of what they want at the best of times. If any of this doesn't make sense, please just think of it as them having Tyria's biggest case of denial.</p>
<p>Thanks for reading!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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